A year and a half ago, Javon Wilson, grandson of U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, wore a cerulean blue cap and gown and walked across the auditorium stage of Henderson Elementary School for his eighth-grade graduation.

At Perspectives/IIT Math & Science Academy, he was on the honor roll, said his mother, Iishia Murphy, 35. He had recently decided not to focus on athletics and wanted to pursue a different career path.

"He wanted to be different, not a basketball player or football player," his mother said.

But the bullet that struck and killed the 15-year-old Friday night as he tried to break up a fight between his siblings and two teens ended that dream. The dispute, authorities say, was over clothing and gym shoes. Two teens have been charged in his death.

More than 100 people, including students, relatives and school staff, gathered outside the Bronzeville school building for a vigil Tuesday evening, most clutching black and white balloons or holding candles to remember the teen. Javon was an outspoken young man who liked telling jokes, playing sports and drawing, those who knew him recalled.

"This means a lot to me for all the students at MSA Perspectives to come out for Javon," his mother, Murphy, told a Tribune reporter after the vigil. "I'm just glad the police caught the two people who did this to Javon. I know my life with never be the same — ever."

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis estimates he has delivered eulogies for about two dozen young Chicagoans whose lives were cut short by violence.

On Saturday, the 75-year-old lawmaker will pay tribute to his late grandson, 15-year-old Javon Wilson, who was fatally shot during an argument with two other teens...

Flanked by students, Davis, a Chicago Democrat, said he fielded calls from President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and, Tuesday, from President-elect Donald Trump, expressing their concern for the violence in Chicago and their condolences for his grandson.

"I want first of all to commend you students for organizing this event. I commend you. I'm Javon's grandfather, but I feel like I'm all your grandfathers," Davis said. "I want you to know that what you are doing right now is a message that's being heard around the world."

Khaliyah Wilson, 16, Javon's sister, said her spirits were lifted by the vigil and that she wanted to be strong for her family.

"A lot of people are showing support and love to my brother and it moves my heart because he was loved," she said.

Tariq Harris, 16, the alleged gunman, and Di'Jae Banks, 17, who took part in the fight, have been charged as adults with first-degree murder and home invasion.

Earlier Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he was "incredibly impressed with Danny's ability to hold himself together."

"I can say this as a father of three — I could not," Emanuel said at a recruitment event at the police academy. "And I hope everybody reaches out, one way or another, to Danny Davis and the family."

The mayor decried the easy access to firearms he said made the shooting possible.

"We have a set of teenagers with access to a gun who resolve a dispute about a pair of blue jeans," Emanuel said as police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and other department officials looked on. "What maybe should have been at best a fistfight, a fight. And there is an emergency in my view, about what is a child, a teenager, doing with a gun? With an ability to think of using a gun like they have access to a cellphone?"

Emanuel has pushed unsuccessfully for state lawmakers to pass tougher laws against illegal possession of guns. He has updated the city's assault weapons ban and toughened penalties for some firearms violations near schools, but officials have acknowledged such municipal rules aren't likely to have a big impact on the city's gun violence.

The incident started Friday when Tariq Harris, 16, and Di' Jae Banks, 17, came to the family's second-floor unit, according to Cook County prosecutors. Banks asked for a pair of shoes she had given to Javon's brother in exchange for a pair of pants. But he didn't want to return the shoes without getting the pants back first, prosecutors said. Banks and Harris then threatened to shoot Javon's sister, prosecutors said. Banks handed the gun to Harris before she got into a physical altercation with the sister, according to prosecutors.

Javon tried to intervene, but Banks punched him in the face, prosecutors said. He struck her back and was then shot in the neck by Harris, prosecutors said.